Smeal MBA Students To Meet With Warren Buffett In Omaha

A group of 27 MBA students from Penn State's Smeal College of Business will travel to Omaha, Neb., next week to meet with Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathway and arguably the most successful investor of all time.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (January 26, 2009) – A group of 27 MBA students from Penn State's Smeal College of Business will travel to Omaha, Neb., next week to meet with Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathway and arguably the most successful investor of all time.

Highlights of the Feb. 6 trip include tours of Berkshire subsidiary companies, a two-hour meeting with Buffett, and lunch with the world's richest man at one of his favorite Omaha steakhouses. During the meeting at Berkshire headquarters, Buffett will take questions from the students on issues ranging from his experiences in business to the state of the global economy.

The Smeal trip is part of a regular routine for Buffett, who occasionally hosts groups of MBA students from the country's leading business schools. But for the Smeal students and those from five other universities who will be joining them, this is a unique chance to pick the brain of one of the brightest business minds ever.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to learn from one of the greatest businessmen of our time," says Smeal MBA student Jeremy Reeh, who is organizing the trip with fellow student Dave Noreen. "This would be a tremendous learning opportunity for us at any time, but with the current state of the world's economy, it's going to be especially enlightening to hear the opinions of Warren Buffett."

Reeh says the idea for the Smeal visit began last year with MBA alumnus Jeremiah Shackleford, who read about Buffett's meetings with MBA students and reached out to Berkshire. When the firm extended the invitation to Smeal, Shackleford, who graduated in May, handed the reins over to Reeh and Noreen.

Buffett's past visits with MBA students have featured tours of Berkshire subsidiaries, including the 500,000-square-foot Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheim's jewelry store. Lunch—with the tab picked up by the "Oracle of Omaha"—is typically had at Piccolo's, Buffett’s favorite restaurant.

REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Victoria Fryer in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or mediarelations@smeal.psu.edu.

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, management and organization, marketing, risk management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.